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I was catching up on my readings this last week-end. In the Pittsburgh diocese,
Byzantine World paper, Father Jaroslav was talking about the Altar. He said the altar should be square and should have no adornments on it. I have never seen a church with a square main altar. Additionally most churches put flowers and candles on the altar. Any comments about the size of church altars.

Ideally, a Byzantine altar is a freestanding cube.

Serge

<A HREF="http://oldworldrus.com">Old World Rus�</A>

In my Melkite parish the holy table is square. Due to a restriction in space we do have the candles on the holy table, but they should be behind the table with the fans and cross.

Edward, deacon and sinner

Really, I have never seen anything but a square altar. Even the better Roman churches are now building square altars rather than those aweful pre-Vatican II 3 inch by six foot fireplace ledges. What were they thinking?

K.



[This message has been edited by Kurt K (edited 07-30-2001).]

It would be rare indeed to find a rectangular altar in an Orthodox Church, since a square altar is the norm and not the exception.

Authenticity!

Bill

[Additionally most churches put flowers and candles on the altar. Any comments about the size of church altars.]

Actually it is forbidden to place anything dead upon the Altar which would include CUT flowers. Though most Churches kind of look the other way regarding this.
Our priest solved the issue by having a stand that contains the large Cross, and two Processional Fans. They are placed thru three holes in a shelf which also has room for two large vases of flowers. This is placed directly in back of the Altar but is not part of it. So when one looks towards the Altar through the 'Royal Doors' it looks like the flowers are on the Altar when in fact, they are in back of it thus conforming to the rule against placing anything dead on the Altar.

Bob

I thought the reason the Latins have long rectangular altars was because that back in the first centuries of the Church mass was often celebrated upon the sarcophagus of the martyrs and the altars are in imitation of that.

Technically, what most people are calling the "altar"is really called "the Holy Table". And it is precisely that--a table, the table of sacrifice. The altar proper, upon which the sacrifice is offered, is that little embroidered cloth rectangle, the Antimension. The Antimension has both a relic sewn into it, and the signature of the reigning bishop upon it, thus symbolizing at one time the presence of the bishop as the head of the local Church, and our communion with all the saints who have departed in the faith. No Byzantine Divine Liturgy can be celebrated without an antimension of some sort (though I sometimes wonder what they did in the GULAG. Just managed, I guess).

Since we're talking about the holy table and related liturgical items, where did the use of the handcross originate from?

Not having ever traveled to a priestly ordination, I have also been told that it is given to the priest then. Yes/no?

Later!

Father Christopher Zugger elaborates on this in his book "The Forgotten, Catholics of the Soviet Empire from Lenin through Stalin". Syracuse, N.Y: Syracuse University Press, 2001.

"Exarch Feodorov organized the concelebration of the Liturgy with other imprisoned priests. Though they had no antimension (consecrated cloth with relics), the Orthodox monks imprisoned there [Solovetski] showed the priests books, hidden carefully from the Communists, in which a Syrian text stated that, in extreme need, the Eucharist could be celebrated on a page of the Holy Gospel. Moreover, the pope sent permission to celebrate without an antimension, while uniting oneself to the tombs of the nearest saints: given the scale of execution, there were certainly many unknown saints' graves close at hand." (p. 165)

"Catholics entered the Soviet prison system quickly after November 1917, with the arrests of clergy in Petrograd. As we noted in chapter 13, by the early 1920's Mass was celebrated as often as possible throughout the system, using whatever bread was available, raisin juice in place of wine, glasses in place of chalices, and any location that was safe from the guards for the Sacraments. Altar stones and antimensia with relics of the Saints were replaced by a spiritual connection with the many martyrs buried at the prisons." (p.196)

By the way, IMHO, this is a PHENOMENAL book and I recommend it to all!



[This message has been edited by Stefan-Ivan (edited 07-30-2001).]

GLORY TO JESUS CHRIST!
GLORY TO HIM FOREVER!

My parish has a square top sitting on an 8-sided base.

St. John's in Uniontown has a rectangular altar, it sits ontop of a platform that has half-a-dozen steps. It's all marble and fits the church wonderfully. I think a square altar would be lost in this church.

just MHO....

mark

Thank you all for the reply. But I could listed all the churches that do not have a square altar.

A brief list
St Mary's - NYC
St. George - NYC
St. Nicholas - Danbury
Sts Peter and Paul - Peekskill
St Nicholas Carpatho rusyn church - Manhattan
There was a church in Granville NY I can't remember the name.

Friends,

According to the Ordo Celebrationis for the the Ruthenian Recension the altar is to be square, not rectangular. The Ordo Celebrationis is the official "rubrics" for our Church, and should be observed in every parish.

The reasons for the square altar are two-fold:

1. The altar used in the ancient Jerusalem Temple was a square.

"The Lord spoke to Moses... Build an altar of acacia wood, three cubits high; it is to be square, five cubits long and five cubits wide," (Exodus 27:1).

2. The New Jerusalem, which will accompany the return of Christ, will be square.

"The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide," (Revelation 21:16).

There is intense theological symbolism behind the square altar. The contemporary latinization of the rectangular altar is a tragic loss of our rich heritage.

Anthony

Dear Stuart,

I once heard of an account of a Liturgy being said right on top of a body of a dying Christian Martyr in Siberia.

I would imagine they would have lots of martyric relics to go around there!

Alex

Dear Friends,

My two cents' worth on this as well.

The square Altar does indeed hearken to the Temple of Jerusalem with its horns or points on the Altar referring to the four corners of the Earth.

The only items allowed on the Eastern Altar are the Gospel, the Hand Cross, the Antimension and cloths, the Tabernacle and the seven candled candle-holder that represents the Seven Sacraments.

The Hand Cross is a tradition that appeared early in the Church and related, initially, to the saying of Christ to "take up one's Cross."

The Ethiopian tradition is perhaps the most "extreme" in this regard.

Their priests are always expected to be holding their hand crosses. Their cassocks have a little pocket for them, or else they wear a special holster when travelling.

My priest told me "My bishop would quickly ask me where my Cross was, if I didn't have it in my hands."

They make the sign of the Cross with it during the Liturgy.

When greeting a priest of their tradition, one kisses the Cross, not their hands, and then presses it to one's forehead.

The Slavic Churches have that beautiful rite whereby Christians bless themselves and their beds with their neck Crosses.

Personally, I've taken up a version of the Ethiopian tradition and always keep a small hand cross nearby, holding it during prayer etc.

It has really enriched my life in Christ.

A Russian priest once exclaimed to an Ethiopian priest at an event I attended that their practice of holding the hand Cross was a "wonderful tradition."

Also, there is a tradition in the East to make such Crosses out of either wood, of course, or brass/bronze to commemorate how Moses raised the bronze serpent in the desert and how the Son of God was to be raised in the same manner so as to heal us of the ancient Bite of the Serpent.

God bless,

Alex